External auditory canal drying apparatus

ABSTRACT

An external ear canal drying apparatus 10 comprising a hinged clam shell style housing 11 containing a forced air generating unit 12 having a blower motor 25 and a heating element 26 operatively associated with an air intake and exhaust conduit 22 that has an exhaust port nozzle 24 dimensioned to receive a conduit 32 centrally disposed within a tapered resilient housing 31 having return air passageways 39 that surround the central conduit for introducing forced hot air into and out of the auditory canal 100.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of medical implements ingeneral, and in particular to a forced air device for removing moisturefrom a person's ear.

2. Description of Related Art

As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,797,475;3,986,272; 4,206,556; and 5,404,652, the prior art is replete withmyriad and diverse forced air and other types of drying implements.

While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more thanadequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have beenspecifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect totheir failure to provide a simple, efficient and practical and safe wayof removing moisture from a person's external ear canal.

As most physicians and otologists are all too well aware, there is notcurrently available an ear canal drying apparatus that can be used toremove moisture from a patient's ear canal which presents problems forthose individuals having chronically moist and/or diseased ear canals,mastoid cavities, tympanic membrane perforations, user's of hearing aidsand swimmers.

As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed alongstanding need for a new and improved type of heated forced airdevice that is designed to introduce a flow of circulating air into auser's external ear canal to remove moisture from a person's externalear canal.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly stated, the external ear canal drying apparatus that forms thebasis of the present invention comprises in general a housing unit, aforced air generating unit and a nozzle adapter unit that is removablyreceived in the exhaust outlet of the forced air generating unit.

As will be explained in greater detail further on in the specification,the forced air generating unit includes an air inlet and exhaust conduitthat is operatively associated with a blower motor and a heating elementto deliver heated forced air through the exhaust port of the forced airgenerating unit.

In addition, the nozzle adapter unit includes a generally soft pliabletapered housing that is dimensioned to be partially received in aperson's ear canal. In one version of the invention, the tapered housingis further provided with a suspended central conduit that delivers theheated air to the person's inner ear.

Furthermore, the central conduit also defines a concentric returnpassageway arranged within the tapered housing to allow the heated airto be vented from the person's ear canal. In another version of theinvention, fluted recesses are formed on the exterior of the taperedhousing wherein the heated air will escape through the recesses.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the housing unit comprisesan upper and lower housing section which are hingedly connected to oneanother in a contoured clam shell fashion. The lower housing section isprovided with a recess dimensioned to receive both the primary nozzleadapter unit and provide storage space for a spare nozzle adapter unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other attributes of the invention will become more clear upona thorough study of the following description of the best mode forcarrying out the invention, particularly when reviewed in conjunctionwith the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the alternate version of the externalauditory canal drying apparatus that forms the basis of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the alternate version of the earcanal drying apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a detail view showing the interior passage nozzle adapter unitengaged in a person's ear;

FIG. 4 is an isolated detail view of the engagement between the forcedair generating unit and the interior passage nozzle adapter unit;

FIG. 5 is an isolated perspective view of the interior passage nozzleadapter unit;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the externalauditory canal drying apparatus that forms the basis of the presentinvention disposed in the operative mode;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment disposed in thestorage mode;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken through line 8--8 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 is an isolated detail view of the external passage nozzle adapterunit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As can be seen by reference to the drawings, and in particularly to FIG.1, the alternate version of the external auditory canal drying apparatusthat forms a portion of the present invention is designated generally bythe reference number 10'. The apparatus 10 comprises in general ahousing unit 11', a forced air generating unit 12' and a nozzle adapterunit 13'. These units will now be described in seriatim fashion.

As can best be seen by reference to FIG. 2, in the alternate version ofthe invention, the housing unit 11' comprises a hand held blower member40, including a pistol shaped housing 41. The forced air generating unit12' comprises an air intake and exhaust conduit 22 having an air intakeport 23 disposed on one end of the housing 41 and an air exhaust portnozzle 24 which is disposed on the other end of the housing 41.

In addition, a blower motor 25 is disposed in line with the conduit 22proximate the air intake port 23 and a heating element 26 is disposed ina surrounding relationship with the conduit 22 intermediate the blowermotor 25 and the exhaust port nozzle 24. Heated forced air may bedelivered to the exhaust port nozzle 24 in a well recognized fashion.

Furthermore, the forced air generating unit 12' is also provided with apower source 27 and a pair of switch elements 28, which selectivelysupply power to the blower motor 25 and the heating element 26,respectively.

At this juncture, it should be noted that given the sensitive nature ofthe human ear 100, both the air speed generated by the blower motor 25and the air temperature generated by the heating element 26 must bemaintained at fairly low values such that the air flow capacity of theblower motor 25 will not exceed 10 cc/sec. and the temperature of theheating element will not exceed 39° C. It should further be noted thatthe bower motor 25 must also have a very low decibel rating given itsuse in close proximity to a user's ear 100.

Turning now to FIGS. 3 through 5, it can be seen that in the alternateversion of the invention, the interior passage nozzle adapter unit 13'comprises a generally resilient adapter member 30 having a taperedhousing 31 provided with a central conduit 32 which is suspended withinthe tapered housing 31 by a plurality of rib elements 33.

In addition, the central conduit 32 has an inlet port 34 which extendsbeyond the enlarged end 35 of the housing 31 and which is dimensioned tobe frictionally engaged in the exhaust port nozzle 24 of the air intakeand exhaust conduit 22 of the forced air generating unit 12'.

Furthermore, the central conduit 32 has an exhaust port 36 which isdisposed within the narrow end 37 of the adapter member 30. As can bestbe seen by reference to FIG. 4, the central conduit 32 is spaced fromthe interior of the resilient tapered housing 31 to define an interiorconcentric return passageway 38 to allow the forced air to flow awayfrom the person's ear drum 102.

It should also be noted that the tapered configuration of the resilienthousing 31 is specifically designed to limit the extent of travel of thenozzle adapter unit 13' relative to the interior of the ear canal 101and to space the exhaust port 36 and the narrow end 37 of the adaptermember 30 from the user's ear drum 102.

Turning now to FIGS. 6 through 9, it can be seen that in the preferredembodiment of the invention the housing unit 11 includes a two-piecehinged housing member 42 having contoured upper 43 and lower 44 housingsections which are hingedly connected to one another as at 45 to producea generally clam shell arrangement in the storage mode as depicted inFIG. 7.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the upper section 43 of thehousing member 42 is provided with an air intake port opening 46 and anair exhaust port opening 47. The lower section 44 of the housing member42 is provided with an enlarged recess 48 dimensioned to receive boththe nozzle adapter unit 13 and a spare nozzle adapter 13 which iscaptively engaged on a tapered post element 49 disposed within theenlarged recess 48, and a battery access panel 50.

As can best be seen by reference to FIG. 8, the forced air generatingunit 12 also comprises an air intake and exhaust conduit 22 having anair intake port 23 disposed on the lower portion of the upper housingsection 43 and an air exhaust port nozzle 24 disposed on the outboardend of the upper housing section 43.

In addition, a fan or blower motor 25 is disposed in line with theconduit 22 and a heating element 26 such as a halogen bulb, or the likeis disposed upstream of the blower motor 25 to deliver heated forced airto the exhaust port nozzle 24 in a well recognized fashion.

Furthermore, the forced air generating unit 12 includes a power source27 such as a pair of batteries or the like disposed in the lower housingsection 44. The power source 27 is electronically coupled to a controlsystem 60 in the upper housing section 43 via electrical wiring 29.

Still referring to FIG. 8, it can be seen that the control system 60comprises a circuit board 61, a pair of switches 28 that control theheating element 26 and the blower motor 25, respectively, and atemperature sensor 62 which is disposed intermediate the heating element26 and the exhaust port nozzle 24 to limit the temperature of the heatedair being generated by the apparatus 10 in a well recognized fashion.

As shown in FIGS. 6, 8, and 9, besides the distinctions between thehousing units 11 and 11' and the location of the various components ofthe forced air generating units 12 and 12' in the preferred andalternate embodiments of this invention, the design and operation of thenozzle adapter units 13, 13' two embodiments are also somewhatdistinctive.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention depicted in FIGS. 6, 8, and9, the nozzle adapter unit 13 comprises a generally resilient adaptermember 30 having a transparent tapered housing 31 provided with acentral conduit 32. The central conduit 32 is provided with an inletport 34 which extends beyond the enlarged end 35 of the tapered housing31 and is dimensioned to be frictionally engaged in the exhaust portnozzle 24 of the forced air generating unit 12.

Furthermore, the central conduit 32 is provided with an exhaust port 36which terminates in the narrow end 37 of the adapter member 30. Thenarrow end 37 of the adapter member 30 and the exhaust port 36 share acommon juncture.

In addition, as can best be seen by reference to FIGS. 6 and 9, theexternal periphery of the tapered housing 31 is provided with aplurality of fluted recesses 39 which are designed to allow the heatedair generated by the apparatus 10 to escape from the user's externalauditory canal in a well recognized fashion.

Furthermore, since the tapered housing 31 is transparent, the user willbe given a visual indication when the heating element 26 is inoperation.

Although only an exemplary embodiment of the invention has beendescribed in detail above, those skilled in the art will readilyappreciate that many modifications are possible without materiallydeparting from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention.Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included withinthe scope of this invention as defined in the following claims.

In the claims, means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover thestructures described herein as performing the recited function and notonly structural equivalents, but also equivalent structures. Thus,although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that anail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together,whereas, a screw employs a helical surface, in the environment offastening wooden parts, a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures.

I claim:
 1. An external auditory canal drying apparatus comprising:ahousing unit including a housing member; a forced air generating unitdisposed within the housing member and comprising an air intake andexhaust conduit having an air intake port on one end and an air exhaustport nozzle on the other end wherein the air intake and exhaust port isprovided with a blower motor; and a nozzle adapter unit operativelyassociated with said exhaust port nozzle and including a generallyresilient adapter member having a tapered housing provided with acentral conduit for receiving a stream of forced air from said blowermotor; and a return passageway disposed in a surrounding relationshiprelative to said central conduit for allowing the forced air to exitfrom the auditory canal.
 2. The apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the airintake and exhaust conduit is further provided with a heating element.3. The apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the tapered housing has anenlarged end disposed proximate to the exhaust port nozzle and a narrowend spaced from the exhaust port nozzle.
 4. The apparatus as in claim 3wherein the central conduit extends beyond the enlarge end of thetapered housing and is dimensioned to be received in said exhaust portnozzle.
 5. The apparatus as in claim 3 wherein said return passageway isformed on the interior of the tapered housing.
 6. The apparatus as inclaim 3 wherein said return passageway is formed on the exterior of thetapered housing.
 7. The apparatus as in claim 6 wherein said returnpassageway comprises a plurality of fluted recesses formed on theexterior of the tapered housing.
 8. The apparatus as in claim 2 whereinsaid housing member has a generally pistol shaped configuration.
 9. Theapparatus as in claim 2 wherein said housing member has an upper housingsection and a lower housing section hingedly connected to one another.10. The apparatus as in claim 9 wherein said upper and lower housingsections are configured to form a clam shell configuration when joinedtogether in the collapsed mode.
 11. The apparatus as in claim 10 whereinthe nozzle adapter unit is disposed on the upper housing section and thelower housing section is provided with a recess dimensioned to receivethe nozzle adapter unit when the upper and lower housing sections aredisposed in the collapsed mode.
 12. The apparatus as in claim 11 whereinthe recess in the lower housing section is further dimensioned toreceive a spare nozzle adapter unit.
 13. The apparatus as in claim 2further comprising:an electronic control system for governing theoperation of the blower motor and the heating element.
 14. The apparatusas in claim 13 wherein the control system limits the output of theblower motor to 10 cc/sec.
 15. The apparatus as in claim 13 wherein thecontrol system limits the temperature of the air heated by the heatingelement to 39° C.
 16. The apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the taperedhousing is dimensioned to only extend partially within the externalauditory canal.
 17. The apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the taperedhousing is transparent.